Facing Reality
by TheOwlAndThePlatypus
Summary: A sequel to Inception.
1. Chapter 1

"Wake up, Cobb. You have to wake up."

"No," I whisper, brokenly, "Not again, leave me alone, please."

"Wake up, Cobb, please,"

I'm always waking up these days. I reach the same point every time; James and Philippa have married and I have grandchildren. Then a voice comes, not always the same voice, but saying the same thing. _Wake up._ Always voices from that last mission, the mission that gave me back my children.

"Cobb, will you at least look at me?"

I look up, on reflex. And _see_ that this voice is different. There's a girl of about 17 years standing there who I don't recognise. She's looking at me pleadingly.

"You have to wake up," she tells me again.

"Dad?" Philippa calls, and I turn to see her standing behind me, by the door of her house with Lucy, her daughter. "Who's this?" she asks, taking Lucy's hand.

"Just a friend, sweetheart," I tell her, "Just a friend," she retires into the house. I look back to the girl, who suddenly looks familiar, like someone I know, or knew a long time ago.

"Your...daughter?" she asks, as if she finds it hard to say the word.

"Yes," I say, "Sorry, what did you say your name was?"

She pauses, opens her mouth as if to answer, then closes it again.

"I didn't," is her only reply.

"Then what do you want from me?"

She takes a deep breath, and closes her eyes as if focusing very hard, then recites,

"I am asking you to take a leap of faith. You're waiting for a train. A train that will take you faraway. You know where you hope this train will take you, but you can't know for sure. But it doesn't matter, because...because you'll be together."

"Mal?" I whisper, my heart beating harder in my chest.

"No," she says, "but I need you to trust me. Ariadne...they said that it would be the best way," She takes something out of her pocket, a small object which I just about recognise. An object that I locked away a long time ago, that I forgot about.

"Your totem," she reminds me.

"Mal's totem," I correct her. She hands it to me, and looks at me expectantly. Slowly, reluctantly, I kneel down on the pavement, and she joins me. I put the totem on the pavement and spin it. Then I wait for it to stop spinning. We watch it together – we watch, and watch and watch, but it doesn't stop. I meet her eyes, knowing what she wants now. Perhaps it's the only way to stop the endless cycle of waking up. Pocketing the totem, I stand up.

"I understand," I tell her, "I'm ready."

With unmistakeable joy in her eyes, she leads me down the streets I now remember building and out of the city, to a railway track. She takes my hands, as I took Mal's that day all those years ago, and we lie down together on the track. I see her fight of the flash of apprehension that glimmers in her eyes, reminding me of Mal, unnaturally so.

"You're waiting for a train," she says, again.

"A train that will take you faraway," I respond. I hear the train, far off at the minute but getting nearer. _Death or an end to the torture_, I remind myself, sternly, _no more waking up_. I can't help but grip her hands harder though.

"You know where you hope this train will take you," she says, a little louder.

"But you can't know for sure," I complete the sentence.

"But it doesn't matter," she yells, above the noise of the train. She's gripping my hands now, like Mal did. I can tell that, like Mal, she can't bring herself to feel certain that this will work.

"Because you'll be together," I yell.

Then I wake up. I blink a few times, and look round to see a room that looks like something out of an old people's home. I am surrounded by people who I don't recognise, and in a chair next to me is the girl from what I now know to be the dream. Putting my hand in my pocket, I pull out my totem, and spin it on a nearby coffee table. It spins for less than a minute before stopping. This time, I conclude, I have woken up for real.


	2. Chapter 2

"COBB! It worked!" a woman of about thirty cries, throwing her arms around my neck.

"Ariadne, please," a man with an English accent and greying hair chastises her, "Give the man some space,"

"Ariadne?" I ask, bewildered, "Eames? But how...you're..."

"We grew up, Cobb," says a second man, gently, "So did you, but you weren't around to see it." He puts an arm around Ariadne's waist, "We all thought that you wouldn't wake up. But Ariadne always believed that there was a way...clearly, she was right."

"So who's she?" I ask, gesturing to the girl in the chair, the one who woke me up, for real this time. The girl who hasn't spoken since I woke up, but who is studying me intently, as if desperate to take in every detail. She looks up, directly into my eyes. She has Mal's eyes, I reflect, and wonder vaguely if that should mean something to me.

"Who are you?" I ask her, softly.

"Can I tell him now?" she asks Ariadne.

"Yes," Ariadne replies, "He'll believe you here, it was just in the dream – he might have thought you were a projection." The girl turns to me, and takes a deep breath.

"I'm...My name's Philippa," she tells me, "I'm your daughter," she pauses, watching me warily now, trying to gauge my reaction. I try to gauge my reaction too, but nothing is forthcoming.

"You're..." I try, but fall silent. If what she is saying is true, then I have missed twelve years of my own daughter's life. I haven't watched her grow up, I've missed birthdays, boyfriends, everything. Then I realise, that doesn't matter. Because I'm here now. And so is she.

"Philippa," I say, softly, "I am so, so sorry." Tears prick my eyes, and I can see them in her eyes, too.

"That's alright," she whispers, "Dad." She comes over and puts her arms round me, gently, as if not wanting to hurt me, and plants a gentle kiss on my forehead.

"You see," a voice interrupts our reunion, "I did keep my promise." Philippa moves to one side, looking with intense dislike at a man who seems barely changed by the years.

"Saito," I say. He nods.

"Guess it's just a shame you weren't around to see it," he says.

"Yeah," I say, "shame." I'm not sure what to believe at the moment, so I leave it at that. A thought occurs to me.

"Where's James?" I ask. They shift their feet, nervously, and no-one catches my eye, until Ariadne nudges Arthur sharply.

"Tell him," she says.

"He...he's at school," he says, softly.

"Why's that so bad?" I ask.

"He's being a jerk," Philippa interrupts, angrily, "Don't let them sugarcoat it for you, he..."

"Philippa," Ariadne warns.

"He doesn't believe that this will work," Arthur says, gently, "He thinks that even if you do wake up, you won't want to be a father to two teenagers who you barely know,"

"I see," I say, emotionlessly.

"We can always change his mind," Eames says, casually, "Ariadne's proved quite good at that,"

"You want to use inception on my son?" I gasp.

"You always make assumptions, don't you," Eames says, uninterestedly, "I would imagine that, now you're awake, you won't need a dream to bring him round to a sensible point of view. And perhaps you can straighten him out while you're at it."

"Straighten him out?" I ask, confused.

"Never mind that now," Ariadne says, quickly, "You need to get started on your physiotherapy," I look at her, puzzled.

"You've been asleep for twelve years, Cobb," she says impatiently, "Do you really think you'll be able to just get up and walk off? You need to build up your muscles and learn to walk again,"

Another thought hits me. "Can I see a mirror?" I ask, forcing myself to breathe normally.

"That might not be a good idea right now, Cobb," Ariadne says, gently, "You've changed a lot,"

"Please," I say, "I've been through so much, I have to know,"

"You might as well," Eames says, "He has to face reality sometime,"

"I guess," Ariadne sighs, "Arthur?" I wonder at her power over them – is she in charge now? Arthur detaches his arm from her waist and walks around my chair, returning with a mirror. He heaves it round, so that it's facing me. I stare. In the mirror is a gaunt elderly man, with white hairs interspersed amongst the brown hair which is beginning to fall out. I try to raise my hand to my face, but can't manage even that small action. I bite my lip. So does the mirror-man.

"I told you it was too soon," Ariadne tells Eames. I shake my head.

"No," I say, "It was something I had to know," They don't seem convinced, "Hey," I tell them, jokingly, "I guess you guys owe me a lot of birthday presents," Ariadne smiles, and Arthur laughs, his hand returning to her waist. Then I notice the ring on her finger, which matches the one on Arthur's.

"You married without me?" I ask, shocked.

"Don't worry, Cobb," Arthur tells me, "We're just engaged. Couldn't marry without the best man, now, could we?"


End file.
